World junior hockey championship cancelled due to COVID-19 cases on multiple teams

The world junior men's hockey championship in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., was cancelled Wednesday in the face of lost games due to COVID-19.

A third game forfeited in two days left the International Ice Hockey Federation, Hockey Canada and organizing committee with few options to continue a tournament with competitive integrity, and they opted to call off the 11-day, 10-country tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta.

After two days of games, players testing positive for COVID-19 had put defending champion United States, Russia and Czechia into mandatory quarantines by Wednesday.

Canada was scheduled to play its third preliminary-round game against Germany on Wednesday night.

Teams arrived in Alberta on Dec. 15. Players were quarantined and were tested before being allowed to skate.

The pre-tournament schedule was reduced to one game per team, with the Czechs and Swiss unable to play any because of positive tests for the virus.